source : The Hindu, February 8, 2009 Chidambaram (PTI): It was an end of an era in the 1500-year-old Chidambaram temple with the Madras High Court rejecting the plea that it was a private temple, paving way for direct state administrative control.

source: The Hindu , Nov 8 ,2008 CHENNAI: A 1,200-year-old Siva temple of the Pallava period at Tiruppulivanam village in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, has been wiped clean of its beautiful Chola-period paintings. The frescoes, about 975 years old, have been sand-blasted out of existence.

The Hindu, May 26, 2007 http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/26/stories/2007052614800700.htm Special Correspondent CHENNAI: Justice P.R. Shivakumar of the Madras High Court has ordered notice to the Commissioner and Joint Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board, among others, on a petition seeking to quash an order permitting a Fit Person to appoint two persons as `archakas' (priests)...

source: DailyIndia, May 25, 2007 http://www.dailyindia.com/show/144105.php/Dalits-get-priesthood-lessons-in-Tamil-Nadu Chennai, May 25: Hundreds of Dalit students have joined a year-long certificate course in 'Agama Sastras' (priesthood studies) at the Parthasarthy Samy temple in Chennai. The Tamil Nadu Government has opened six 'archaka' (Hindu priest) training centres across the state.

source: Chennai Online, May 4, 2007 Chennai, May 4: The Tamil Nadu government would regularise encroachments on temple lands, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments K R Periyakaruppan said today. Replying to the discussion on demands for grants for his department in the Assembly, he said persons who had constructed houses on such...

source: The Hindu, April 3, 2007 Chennai, April 3 (PTI): The Tamil Nadu government will initiate measures to renovate the northern and southern 'rajagopurams' (towers) of the famous Siva temple in Rameswaram, State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister, K R Periakaruppan told the State assembly yesterday.